Book Review: Black God's Drums by P. Djèlí Clark

Black God's Drums by P. Djèlí Clark

Trade Paperback, 112 pages

Published August 2018 by Tor.com

Hugo Award Nominee for Best Novella (2019)

Nebula Award Nominee for Best Novella (2018)

Locus Award Nominee for Novella (2019)

World Fantasy Award Nominee for Best Novella (2019)

ALA Alex Award (2019)

This will be somewhat of a short review as the book was only 112 pages. It is a novella in the Tor publishing Novella series which have become must-reads for me. With established writers and new voices, it is a good mix and they are almost always high quality. I admit many of my favorites are by established authors like Brian Evenson, Caitlin Kiernan, and Maurice Broaddus. That said I have enjoyed almost all of them.

I picked up this one from the library based entirely on it being a Tor novella having never heard of Clark. I am super glad I did. This short but high energy story is set in an alternate history, New Orleans. It is a steampunk setting with airships and anachronistic technology. So it has both a retro and Afrofuturistic feel to it. The story of Creeper a NOLA pickpocket who joins the crew of the Midnight robber a Haitian Airship.

There are action and plots involving the title Maguffin that keeps everything moving but the strength for me was the subtle and perfectly woven world-building. There is not much room for the character to grow, have an arc or romance but honestly, this feels like act one of a larger novel. That might sound like a weakness but it is not. The characters are rich and well-drawn without getting tied into romantic tropes.

There is real wisdom to releasing this as a novella since steampunk is not my genre I was willing to give 112 pages a spin while I probably would have passed on a 400 pager. That said I enjoyed this and got hooked on the character so if Tor does the smart thing and let Clark expand this world into a novel I am in to read it.

I really liked this book. Thought it was well written, and the best thing I can say is that P. Djèlí Clark is on my radar. I will continue to seek out his work. So what were my nitpicks? As much as I liked this novella I was shocked by the level of award nominations. I gotta be honest, I think I would've been more impressed if I have not read Pimp my Airship or Buffalo Soldier by Maurice Broaddus. I thought this was a cool well-written book set in a world that seemed familiar to me. None the less the world is big enough for two Afro-steampunk visions.